#izuan

“A part of the reason why I'm asking is because it's the biggest Anzu ship on Pixiv, but it seems nearly non-existent in the Western fandom.” I know you don’t mean to set me off but BOY DO I HAVE MANY WORDS ABOUT THIS. Part of the reason why it’s so popular in JPN is because Izumi Sena is one of the most popular characters but the other half is because people can actually read the content and don’t rely on (fan) translators who may have biased interpretations. This and the general attitude in the Western fandom of either straight up Anzu erasure, hate to disinterest. The fandom seems slightly better now but you’re talking about a ship where one half of it, Anzu, *existing in the game* was once up for debate 😒...I can go on *forever* about Anzu’s mistreatment by both the Western and Eastern fandom but I know that’s probably not what you want to hear. 

At first, Izumi makes it no secret that he found Anzu’s presence around Makoto annoying, with most of his interactions basically telling her to stop bothering him. Deep down though, Izumi has good intentions when it comes to other things, helping Anzu out with getting into the school when security thought she might be an intruder, teaching her to cook and helping her find her misplaced school shoes. As a tsundere, he has an icy exterior but it’s always easy to see his true feelings, often times with other characters pointing it out. After Izumi decides that Anzu wasn’t going to be a threat to his and Makoto’s relationship, he starts calling her by first name basis to which Makoto immediately says he seems to acknowledge her. 

Even if Izumi refuses to be honest, it’s clear that Anzu starts growing on him early on as in the Black and White Duel mini event, Izumi says that Anzu is the only person who could motivate him after Makoto. By the autumn, Izumi is still dishonest about wanting to help Anzu despite being the first to offer her help cleaning up after the Athletic Festival. After that, when Judgement rolls around, Arashi notes that Izumi has been full of motivation recently and wonders whether it’s because of Anzu or Leo, showing that it’s obvious that Izumi holds Anzu in a high regard. 

By Fleur de Lis, Izumi is barely managing to pretend he doesn’t care about Anzu. Kaoru is worried Anzu has too much on her plate and consults with Izumi who immediately goes to check on her. He tells the rest of Knights to be more considerate to Anzu who is clearly exhausted and again Arashi says that this was an attitude that was previously unheard of from Izumi. When he was checking on Anzu, he gets close to her which surprises her because she can’t handle seeing a model’s face up close earning a teasing from Izumi, indicating that she finds his appearance generally attractive. Izumi has also indicated a few times that he thinks Anzu is cute which he finds a shame since she puts no effort in her appearance and has the fashion sense of a potato. 

In winter he makes no effort to even hide his affection for Anzu, calling himself her brother and vowing death to her enemies. In starfes he gives her a hand knitted hat as a Christmas present and Anzu is apologetic since she hadn’t prepared anything for him, but he insists that her wearing can be his present. He even says that he would be happy if she really was his younger sister. Tsukasa shows some discontent every time he sees Izumi spoil Anzu, constantly questioning Izumi. 

In Ice Dance, Izumi shows annoyance at Leo which he interprets as him being someone Izumi wants to do anything to protect Anzu from. Izumi denies wanting to go *that far* but does admit that if he deems someone unable to support Anzu he “doesn’t know what may happen to them”. Izumi’s gentle attitude toward Anzu is shown again and again in the story with Tsukasa once again feeling left behind by Anzu. Even Kaoru begins to worry that Izumi’s attitude may escalate, which is possible seeing how he acts with Makoto, who he also sees as his younger sibling. In the end, both Kaoru and Izumi fight over which one of them will take Anzu home, with Kaoru just trying to get a head start on a relationship with her and Izumi wanting to protect her. Seriously, this story has so much IzuAn, thank you for the meal.